


Desert Sands and Broken Plans

by ProsperDemeter



Series: Palm Trees and Scraped Knees [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Peter Parker, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Tony Stark is Good With Kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:21:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21565618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProsperDemeter/pseuds/ProsperDemeter
Summary: "Tony Stark went missing on a Tuesday."Or the story of Iron Man, his son, and the bonds built in between the lines.
Relationships: Ben Parker & Peter Parker, Ben Parker/May Parker (Spider-Man), Harry Osborn & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Ho Yinsen
Series: Palm Trees and Scraped Knees [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1461913
Comments: 12
Kudos: 199





	1. Tuesday

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! I'm baaaack. 
> 
> This is part two of Palm Trees and Scraped Knees and while it's not imperative to read that first it will explain some things that may otherwise be a little foggy. This is our version of Iron Man one and I wanted to do something a little different than what I usually find in these Peter as Tony's son stories. 
> 
> Yes things will play out almost exactly the same as the movie, but I plan on writing most of it from Peter's point of view and explore other developing relationships that become more important as the story goes on. 
> 
> So, expect a lot of Uncle Rhodey and Peter moments. Uncle Ben, Aunt May and Peter moments. And Peter with his two BFFs for the time being - Ned and Harry. 
> 
> This is not beta read and written purely for my amusement and entertainment.

Tony Stark went missing on a Tuesday. 

Peter knew it was a Tuesday for a few reasons. One: Uncle Rhodey picked him up from school instead of his Dad and Uncle Happy. Two: Tuesdays were chicken nugget days at school and Peter loved chicken nugget days. 

Uncle Rhodey pulled up in his shiny black car with a baseball hat on and Uncle Ben got out of the passenger seat and Peter thought nothing of it. Uncle Ben didn't usually accompany Uncle Rhodey and Peter on their special Tuesdays but he was friends with Uncle Rhodey like Peter was friends with Ned. Maybe they were all having a playdate! 

"Hey little dude!" Uncle Ben high fived him and helped him into the smooth leather of Uncle Rhodey's fancy new car. Uncle Rhodey had sunglasses on which was only weird because it was cloudy. 

Maybe he had a special headache. Daddy said only adults got those and Peter had to be very quiet when Uncle Rhodey had one so he didn't hurt him. "Hi Uncle Rhodey." Peter stage whispered and clicked his seat belt. Just last month he was told he didn't need a booster seat anymore and Daddy had brought him to the movies with Auntie Pepper to celebrate. Uncle Rhodey had showed up that Tuesday at school with a new Captain America comic book and his first big boy Lego set. They had spent all weekend with Daddy in his lab building it, destroying it, and then building it all over again. "Do you have an adult headache?" 

Uncle Ben and Uncle Rhodey shared a look Peter didn't notice, twin frowns on their face. Rhodey took a deep breath. 

"Can we get cheeseburgers?" Peter asked before he could answer. 

"Pete-" 

"It's cheeseburger Tuesday, isn't it?" Uncle Rhodey sounded weird. Like he had been crying or like he had a cold. But he looked fine to Peter's spying eyes. "Of course we're getting cheeseburgers!" 

They were at Burger King when they told Peter. It was on accident it even happened at all, Rhodey had pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head, Uncle Ben had handed his card over to pay and Peter interrupted with a sharp "wait!" 

Peter could barely see over the counter but it seemed like everything stopped. "What about daddy's cheeseburgers?" 

Uncle Rhodey froze. Uncle Ben said a no no word that Auntie May would have yelled at him for and even the nice cashier named Kira seemed shocked into silence. "I…" 

Unfortunately for all present, Peter was a smart kid. And smart kids, especially one raised by Tony Stark, knew how to read a room and draw conclusions. 

His bottom lip started trembling before Uncle Rhodey even said anything. 

"Where's daddy?" He blinked his big brown eyes like a puppy dog. It usually got him all of the information Daddy didn't want him to know. Daddy called them his secret weapon. Peter said it was just how he looked. 

"Pete." Uncle Rhodey picked him up with ease and held him under his bottom. Peter's feet kicked against his stomach impatiently. 

They walked a little away, Uncle Ben finishing the transaction softly. 

"I want my daddy."

"Daddy's…" Uncle Rhodey took a deep, deep breath that Peter felt in his little body. Uncle Rhodey seemed unable to look at him for very long and Peter rubbed a fist into his burning eyes. 

"Where's my daddy!" It wasn't loud but Uncle Rhodey winced anyway. 

"Something happened on Daddy's work trip." 

-_-_-_-

Tony Stark went missing on a Tuesday. 

Tony knew it was a Tuesday for a few reasons. One: Rhodey was picking Peter up from school like he did every Tuesday. Two: Pepper planned most of his important army meetings on Tuesdays because it was the one day Rhodey could pick Peter up from school while Tony ironed out any details with his army money buddies. 

Three: it was cheeseburger Tuesday and Tony loved when Peter would run into his legs mindless of the dress pants and holding a greasy bag of unhealthy food in the middle of any meeting Obadiah was forcing him into. 

Four: he had a standing lunch date with May Parker to catch her up on anything Peter related now that she worked at the hospital and he no longer needed a full time nanny. 

Tony Stark went missing on a Tuesday. 

He woke up on a Friday. 

-_-_-_-

Auntie May had replaced Uncle Rhodey when they finally got back to the Malibu mansion. 

"Welcome home, little sir." JARVIS greeted almost like he too knew what was missing in their little family. 

Peter didn't answer and ran away from Rhodey the moment he put the car in park. "Peter wait!"

But the five year old didn't listen. He was quick for someone so small, and even though Uncle Ben jogged after him Peter made it all the way up the stairs and flicked the lock on Tony's bedroom door before he could catch up. Ben banged shoulder first into the wood and tried the handle to no avail. 

May, a hand over her mouth in mortification stepped out of the guest room. "Oh Peter." She mumbled and placed a hand on Ben's lower back to try to get him to let her in. 

They could hear him through the wood, wailing and yelling for his dad. 

Peter, inside the room, was curled on Tony's spot on the bed. His face was pressed into his dad's pillow where it smelled like his aftershave and oil. He had let Tony cuddle with Beary when he had a cold a few weeks ago and had yet to take him back. Peter hugged Beary now, crying into his soft head. 

His lungs hurt and when he breathed in he coughed. 

Still, Peter cried and cried for his Daddy until words didn't work anymore and JARVIS had unlocked the door due to May and Ben's worry. 

May said they were lucky, later that night with Peter curled between them on Tony's king sized bed. They were lucky for a few reasons: that Ben always carried an extra inhaler with him, that JARVIS had been programmed to keep track of Peter's breathing patterns and alert authorities only if necessary, and that, as far as anyone knew, Tony was still alive. 

Rhodey had left after throwing out their cheeseburgers - they were cold and soggy by the time anyone seemed well enough to have them and Rhodey couldn't even look at the bag without wanting to be sick. 

Peter hadn't said it was Rhodey's fault Tony was missing, but Rhodey knew that the way the kid seemed to shrink into himself proved what he suspected. Rhodey knew the chances of Tony surviving such an attack as he had been stuck in were slim. Tony had beat the odds before. 

For Peter, Tony would probably create time travel. 

So Rhodey would keep searching until there was no place on earth to search anymore. 

-_-_-_-_-

Yinsen asked him if he had anyone to get back home to, anyone to keep fighting for. 

"My son."


	2. Two

2\. 

It took two days for Tony to be declared an official missing person. The army had nothing on the cartel that took him and Rhodey hadn't slept until Pepper had forced him into sweats and Peter had forgiven him enough to cuddle into his side a day later. Peter spent the nights in Rhodey's bed, hugging tightly to the teddy bear he had had since birth. He insisted on sleeping in one of Tony's shirts at night, the hood big over his head and sleeves so long they doubled the size of his arms. Peter didn't talk to anyone but Rhodey. He even took to hiding behind Rhodey's legs when people visited. 

It took a week Rhodey to go back to work. 

They still had nothing. 

"Tell me why no one's found anything?" He was tired, his face long and bags heavy under his eyes. His hands were planted firmly on the table, his voice dipping low into his tone of authority. 

He didn't get the answer he wanted. He shouldn't have been shocked - it was the same thing people had been parroting back and forth at him for a week. 

Rhodey didn't want to go home empty handed, though. He didn't think he could handle Peter crying one more night. 

Logically, Rhodey knew what a week of no evidence meant. A missing person was usually killed within the first twenty four hours. And Rhodey knew just how annoying Tony Stark could be. That could work in either direction: either it would keep him alive or it would kill him faster. 

"Uncle Rhodey," Peter said from the kitchen island, kicking his legs over the edge of the chair and twirling his fork in his hand. 

"Yeah Pete?" Rhodey looked up from his phone where he had been staring at the same news article without really reading it. May and Ben were coming over for dessert and Rhodey was relying on them to make the kid smile for more than a fleeting moment. 

"Is Daddy ever coming home?" It was a mumbled question, spoken more into his mac and cheese than to Rhodey. 

Peter's voice shook when he asked it though Rhodey could tell he was trying hard to be brave about it. The question itself stabbed Rhodey in the gut and he swallowed hard past the lump in his throat. "Of course he is, buddy." 

Peter had more questions, Rhodey could tell. But he didn't ask them, instead nodding solemnly and pushing away his plate. "Can I be 'scused?" 

"Course." He wanted to say no. Peter hadn't been eating much since Tony's disappearance. 

"Th'nk you." 

It was minutes later, when Rhodey couldn't pretend he wasn't hearing Peter's muffled sobs in the bathroom when Rhodey posed a question to the universe he knew that it couldn't answer. "How the hell am I supposed to do this, Tony?" 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Peter didn't come out when the Parkers got there. May had frowned when Peter had yelled at her to go away and Rhodey had just poured her a handle of whiskey to match his own. 

Ben hadn't been so easy for Peter to shoo away. Maybe he was made of stronger stuff than them. Or maybe he used to be a stubborn and traumatized kid himself. Rhodey didn't feel like asking.

"Hey slugger," Ben rapped his knuckles on the door, his hip resting firmly against the wall. "What you doing in there?" 

"Go a'ay." Peter sounded horrible and raspy and Ben wanted nothing more than to give him what he wanted. 

But it wasn't healthy and Ben didn't really think it was a good idea to let a child mourn on his own. Especially one with severe asthma. "Come on Pete. Let me in, buddy." 

"No!" Peter hit the door and it shook on its hinges. 

Ben raised an eyebrow, unimpressed but shocked. Peter wasn't usually a violent child. "Excuse me, kid?" Ben wasn't the disciplinarian of the Parkers. Usually if Peter did anything wrong Ben would be the first to give in at one look of those big brown doe eyes. May was the one with the back bone. She gave in less than Tony. Had put up with more tantrums than a nanny turned aunt should and Peter had learned to listen to her quicker than Ben could have imagined. 

"Leave me alone!" Another blow to the door. 

May was rubbing Rhodey's back now, the Colonel's face buried deep in his trembling hands. Her lips were pursed tight. "Peter-." 

"Leave me the fuck alone!" 

May startled. 

"Hey!" Ben was quick to snap, foregoing all sense of privacy and ripping open the bathroom door. Peter jumped, his little body falling backwards and into the tub. His face was a blotchy red mess, his fingernails clenched tight into little fists and breath coming in quick, deep and painful bursts. "You do not get to speak like that!" 

Ben deflated almost immediately when Peter flew into his legs, hugging them tightly with his shaking arms. "I'm sorry, Uncle Ben." He was crying harder now, his stomach caving in quick and filling up rapidly with only small bits of air. 

It wasn't good - borderline asthma attack. Ben grabbed him from under his armpits and sat him on the counter next to the sink. "You have to breathe, slugger."

"I'm tr'ing!" Peter wailed, burying his face in Ben's shoulder. He fished around in the medicine cabinet, happy that he remembered correctly where Rhodey had said he had hidden a spare inhaler.

"Here, Peter, here." Ben pulled his face away from his shirt and Peter obeyed, letting him hold it to his mouth and puff it between his lips. "Hold it buddy hold it." 

He followed instructions like someone that had done this too many times for someone so young. Ben ran a finger under the kid's eyes, wiping the tears gathered there unshed and keeping his own breath steady for Peter to imitate once he had shakily breathed out. "I want my daddy." Peter mumbled. 

"I know, Petey." Ben rubbed his back soothingly. 

They were silent for a long moment until Peter's breathing calmed. "Do you remember that movie we watched a few weeks ago when you slept over?" 

"Star Wars?" 

"Mhm." Ben smiled encouragingly. "Do you remember how brave Luke was when Obi Wan took him on the adventure?" 

Peter nodded slowly. "He was really scared cuz he just lost his parents." 

"Do you think you can be as brave as Luke was, Pete?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long. Life is crazy and finding time to write was difficult. I'm going to try and be back sometime tomorrow!


	3. Three

"Tell me about your son." It was dark outside when Yinsen asked, Tony laying on a table and the skilled hands of the doctor only shaking a little bit as they worked to switch out the car battery with the quick fix arc reactor Tony had built in desperation. 

It was an attempt at a distraction… for both of them. 

Tony welcomed it. 

Welcomed any excuse to talk about Peter. "He's five. Just started school." 

"My own son," Yinsen said in response. "Armin, is his name. He is eight. What is your son's name?"

Tony quirked a smile. "Peter." 

"He is smart, like you?" 

Peter had started learning multiplication when Tony had been taken. He had asked Tony about engines and why his heart beat like a battery a month ago. He was learning Philipino from just being around the Leeds family and Tony had watched him give a little girl the biggest hug when she had won the spelling contest over him. "He's better than me." 

-_-_-_-_-

Harry came over a few weeks later, when it had been a month since Tony disappeared and a was a month away from Peter's sixth birthday. Norman didn't stay, but Elizabeth, Harry's mother, did. She sat in the kitchen and had tea with Uncle Rhodey and Aunt Pepper, leaving the boys to play in the living room, legos out even though Harry hated following their instructions. Usually, Peter preferred building Legos with Ned, but Ned's Grandma was visiting and he had missed spending time with Harry. 

Harry didn't ask questions like Ned did. Harry just accepted all Peter was at face value. 

Harry also wasn't afraid to listen in on the adults talking with Peter. Ned would inevitably tell, and though Peter never held it against his friend, he was well aware that Harry was the sneakier of the two. 

"How is he?" Elizabeth Osborn asked after taking a sip of her peppermint tea. 

"He's sleeping a full night now." Rhodey supplied with a glance at Peter and Harry, the two of them currently building a tower that would be taller than them combined. "Still wakes up asking for Tony." 

"Obadiah let him see the video." Aunt Pepper sounded mad, her lips tight in a line. 

Peter remembered the video. It wasn't good but Daddy was in it. He didn't understand what they were saying and Daddy had a lot of boo-boos. Peter hadn't been able to sleep that night - every time he closed his eyes he saw the man with the gun to Daddy's head. 

Ned had slept over the night after - a prearranged boys night. Peter had told him about the video and made him promise not to tell. Ned had called him the next day, apologizing for telling Harry. But it was okay. If Ned told Harry then Peter didn't have to. 

Aunt Pepper had walked in on it - Mister Obie pointing at the screen and saying "see, your dad's alive". She had said bad words to him - the no no words like the one Peter had said to Uncle Ben - and dragged Peter out and to Daddy's office. Peter hadn't cried then, instead sitting in Daddy's twirling chair and staring at the picture he had on his desk. Daddy and Peter were both in it - each holding an ice cream cone, Peter missing a tooth in the front and Daddy with ice cream on his nose. 

"There's a video?" Miss Elizabeth sounded shocked. 

Uncle Rhodey made a noise. "We've kept it out of the media." 

"Smart." Elizabeth hummed. "Norman would eat it up." 

-_-_-_-_-

Tony rarely slept. 

When he did, it was racked with nightmares that pulled him away with a scream tearing his throat. A world destroyed with his name on the misle. Peter in the Humvee instead, hand reaching out and brown hair floppy on his forehead and tears on his cheeks. 

It was then he started thinking about it. Started letting himself think of all the kids he tore away from parents. Of parents he tore away from their kids. 

He wondered if Howard had ever regretted building their fortune on the deaths of others. He wondered if Howard would have ever thought to stop. If had his father ever met Peter, had ever held him and answered his questions and sang him to sleep at night, if he would be thinking of all the bad the Starks had done in the name of peace as he was. 

He missed his kid. 

He missed Pepper. Missed Rhodey and even missed Obie and Norman Osborn. 

But, mostly, he missed his kid and, if he dared close his eyes, he would see him. And even in terror, Peter smiled once they looked at each other. 

-_-_-_-_-

"I have to go, buddy." Uncle Rhodey was knelt in front of him, holding onto his shoulders tightly and forcing him to look him in the eyes. Peter felt like crying, even with Aunt May standing just behind him and Uncle Ben leaning against the kitchen wall. 

Uncle Rhodey was dressed for work. 

Daddy had been dressed for work when he left too. "I don't want you to go." He sniffled and rubbed at his eyes, willing the tears not to fall. They betrayed him. 

"I don't want to go." Uncle Rhodey seized him tight, his hug sending warmth through Peter's body but hurting his heart. "There was a signal from someone that needs help, though." He murmured into his hair. Uncle Rhodey sounded like he was crying too. 

"You hafta go help them." Peter held on tight, though. "Like Cap'ain America." 

Rhodey gave a wet chuckle. "Maybe not that cool." 

"Cooler." 

"Okay, kid." Rhodey pulled Peter's arms from his neck and smiled a fake smile at him. "I'll be home before you know it." 

Daddy said that too. 

Peter glanced at Uncle Ben. 

Brave. Like Luke was when he lost his Mommy and Daddy. 

"Okay." 

-_-_-_-

Tony Stark was found on a Monday wandering the desert with a light shining from his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyy Tony's back. 
> 
> I think I've watched the first Iron Man at least five times to figure out the timeline for this story. 
> 
> See you tomorrow, loves! I don't know about you but I can't wait for this Iron Family to reunite.


	4. Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been so much longer than I planned for this, yikes. I'm so sorry for the wait - between self publishing the second book in my orignal story series and starting a new job life got a little hectic. But I'm back! I'll try hard not to get lost again. 
> 
> My repentance is sappy and happy and hopefully will leave your heart feeling full.

He was attached to so many machines he felt like a marionette and the plane was the puppeteer, holding him over the stage and just daring him to try and cut himself free. Tony knew only about what thirty percent of the machines were monitoring. He had one for oxygen, one for his heart, one for his hydration levels and what Tony hoped was a caffeine drip but was actually, more helpfully, a pain reliever. His skin was scorched a raw sort of red from the hour he spent wandering the desert and if he breathed too deep the reactor in his heart pulled at the skin that had stitched itself healed around it. It was more annoying that painful, but the doctor had looked just a little bit green in the face when he had seen it and, when he had reached out a hand as if to remove it, Tony had barked out a harsh, quick, and gravily no. 

It was Rhodey that had gotten the doctors to back off, naturally. He assured them once Tony was stabilized that he would be good to go until they landed back on US soil and he could go to the hospital. 

That last part was an empty promise, but Tony knew that Rhodey was well aware that Tony wouldn’t be brought to a hospital without a whole lot of kicking and screaming. 

Rhodey, himself, was standing on the other side of the plane, arms crossed over army fatigues and eyes glaring out the small window as though it had personally insulted him with its placement. Tony had tried to get his attention close to four times now, and on the fifth had given up trying to speak loudly and had, instead, thrown a dried clump of sand at him. Tony never did have the best aim, but it still hit its mark squarely on the back of his head. 

Finally, Rhodey turned to look at him, his eyebrows raised. He walked closer when Tony signaled him to do so, and scowled at him when Tony tried, and failed, to push himself into a seated position. Are you mad at me, Tony wanted to ask. “Where’s Peter?” Came out instead. 

A valid question. 

A better question. 

Rhodey didn’t hesitate. 

It was the first time since getting on the plane that his friend dropped into the seat across from him and fished out his phone from whatever pocket it was buried deep in the depths of. When Tony had last seen it it was sleek and shining - new and unused. Now it was cracked across the corners, scratched on the case and had a slew of fingerprints on the touch screen. It was the newest model of Stark Phone - a birthday present from Tony just a few months prior. Peter had said that a phone was a stupid present and had, instead, drawn Rhodey a picture and made the three of them matching friendship bracelets. Tony brushed his fingers against the skin of his wrist where he had just realized his bracelet no longer was. He hadn’t meant to take it off. Hadn’t meant to lose it somewhere in the struggle and the mess of being kidnapped and near death. 

Now, though, he could see just peeking out of the edge of Rhodey’s sleeve the blue, red, and yellow string that his son had painstakingly woven together. It was well worn after months, but had been treated with a kind of reverence and love that Tony hadn’t exactly presented his own. Tony kept every piece of art, every craft, every report and test Peter gave him, so this one hadn’t seemed exactly like anything monumental. Just another piece to add to the keepsake of Peter’s life. But Rhodey had almost cried when Peter had knelt next to him on the couch to tie it around his wrist with his tongue sticking out of the corner as he concentrated. Peter had learned how to tie his shoes specifically for this, Tony remembered. Had insisted on tying it himself. 

Tony knew that Rhodey had never exactly wanted kids - him and Tony had agreed on that back in college. Kids were a no go for either of them. Tony because he didn’t trust he wouldn’t become his own father, and Rhodey in fear of the same thing only with more physical violence than absentee. But Peter. God, was Peter a blessing that neither of them had seen coming. 

“Here,” Rhodey handed over his phone into Tony’s shaking hands. His palms were probably too burnt for him to be holding the metal in his hands but Tony couldn’t bring himself to care when he saw what Rhodey had pulled up on the screen. “He’s over at May and Ben’s right now.” Rhodey supplied when he realized he hadn’t actually answered Tony’s question. 

Tony, himself, couldn’t find words and was afraid, if he tried to open his mouth, his calm and cool exterior would crack to show just how exhausted and terrified this entire ordeal had been. Uncaring of the prickling edges of glass, Tony traced a finger down the picture - down the pixelated cheek with eyes that stung like they had gotten more desert sand in them. Peter had lost a tooth, third from the right, and a giant gap was showing as he smiled into the camera. He was holding a stuffed bear that looked suspiciously like the one Tony used to have when he was younger that resembled Captain America. Aunt Peggy had gotten Tony that when he was born and Tony, like the sap he pretended not to be, had given it to Peter when he had started reading the comics at night. Tony might have grown up to resent the hero that had taken so much of Howard Stark with him into the ice, but Peter loved him. “He’s…” Tony’s voice caught in his throat and when he looked up at his friend he saw that Rhodey, too, had tears in his eyes. “He’s okay?” 

It was really all Tony had wanted answered the entire time he was in that cave. It was okay if Tony wasn’t to survive - if Peter was okay. He would only go if Peter was okay. 

Rhodey nodded and swallowed hard. 

“Pete, uh,” He wiped at his nose and reached towards the phone to swipe the image for Tony. “He insisted on taking a picture every day so that,” Rhodey choked on a sob that bubbled up through his throat. Any other time, any other place, any other circumstance and Tony wouldn’t let him live it down. But, currently… Well currently Tony was crying himself. “So that you could see he was okay when you were gone.” 

His boy. 

His stupid pure baby boy. 

Tony couldn’t really see the pictures well enough with the mosaic of tears in his eyes so he, instead, just hugged the phone close to his chest, right over the arc reactor that kept the shrapnel from piercing into his heart and curled in on himself. 

Rhodey didn’t hug him - they weren’t really huggers the two of them - but he did reach out, his hand curling on Tony’s own where he clutched the phone and bowed his own head. 

Their tears mingled until there were none left. 

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Uncle Happy had come to pick him up early from school that day and because it was before lunch Peter’s stomach was rumbling up a storm before they had even turned onto the highway. Auntie Pepper was there too, sitting across from Peter and nervously bouncing her leg while she picked at her fingernails. She looked like she had been crying and when Peter had asked her about it she had said, with a smile on her face, that they were happy tears. 

“Where are we going?” Peter asked for what was probably the twentieth time. He was trying not to be annoying, really, but he was also hungry and he was supposed to have a playdate at Ned’s after school and this was really throwing off all of his plans. Miss Lisa, the teacher’s assistant that always carried around Peter’s inhaler for him on class trips and had really pretty bright orange hair, said that sticking to a schedule was very important and that cancelling plans without telling anyone was very rude. Peter didn’t want to be rude to Ned of all people. 

Uncle Happy didn’t answer, but, instead, gripped the steering wheel just a bit tighter and actually smiled when they were at the stop light. “It’s a surprise.” He assured Peter for what had to be the twenty-second time. 

Normally, Peter liked surprises. 

But the last time Peter had been surprised his dad had gone missing so Peter didn’t exactly take those surprises very well any more. 

“Can I have my lunch?” He had it packed away in his backpack too, but Uncle Happy had put the bag in the trunk before Auntie Pepper had helped Peter strap himself into the car. 

“Not right now, sweetie.” Auntie Pepper answered this time. 

“Does Aunt May know where I am?” Peter’s feet didn’t touch the ground in Uncle Happy’s car, so he kicked them against the leather of the seat and played with the collection of yarn bracelets he had on his wrist. One was the friendship bracelet he had made for Uncle Rhodey’s birthday, another was pink and white like the ones that Ned and Harry had, one was black and green like the one Uncle Ben had, and one was red and purple like the one Patricia, a girl from his class with really pretty blue eyes, had. Everyone thought Peter and Patricia were dating but, Peter just thought Patricia was cool like Princess Leia. And a little scary like her too. 

“Yes.” Auntie Pepper assured after a moment. “So does Uncle Ben.” 

They pulled off into the airport, the plane big and white against the pavement. Peter had been to the airport before, usually to see off Uncle Rhodey and his dad. He had seen the cameras and people holding microphones before at the airport, and usually when they were there his dad or Uncle Rhodey would say goodbye in the car so Peter didn't have to answer any of their questions. 

But this time was still different. 

For one, there was no Tony and no Uncle Rhodey. For another, there was an ambulance to the left with their doors open like they were just waiting for someone to arrive. 

"Why are we at the airport?" Peter stuck his nose to the glass as a plane drew closer in the air. 

Auntie Pepper didn't answer, but she did rest her hand on his back. Uncle Happy opened his door and climbed out before opening Peter's then. 

Peter didn't get out. The cameras were too bright even in the sunlight. "It's okay, mini-Boss." Uncle Happy winked. "You're not going to want to miss this." 

It was then that Peter put it all together. 

He was a smart boy, everyone told him he took after his dad like that. Uncle Ben had said that Peter was the smartest kid his age and Aunt May had argued that he was even smarter than his age. Peter knew how to do multiplication and division and how to make slime from scratch. He knew that water expanded when frozen and that the smell after lightning was called Ozone. He knew that glass was a slow moving liquid and that superfluid Helium could climb walls. 

Peter liked puzzles. He liked solving them and, really, this one was really easy. 

"Daddy?" Peter didn't look at Uncle Happy for confirmation but, instead, scrambled out of his seat and onto the pavement, his eyes glued to the plane coming in from the sky. 

"Whoa, mister." Auntie Pepper grabbed him by his arm to keep him from running off. "We have to wait." 

Peter didn't like waiting. 

It seemed like it took forever for the plane to land with a bang of its wheels and, then, like it took even longer for the doors to open and the ramp to come down. 

Peter held his breath, held Uncle Happy and Auntie Pepper's hands in bruising grips and counted his breaths to make sure they wouldn't go too shallow just like Aunt May had taught him. 

First Peter only saw Uncle Rhodey and that was honestly relief enough. He had kept his promise. 

But then… 

Well then…. 

"Daddy!" Uncle Happy and Auntie Pepper couldn't grab him fast enough and Peter was flying across the concrete faster than he had ever run before. 

Tony looked horrible the closer he got, he had his arm in a sling like Peter's classmate Ryan did when he broke his, had a sunburn all over his face, had too many bandaids like Peter had just played doctor but his shoulders dropped in relief when he saw his boy running at him. 

Tony dropped to one knee, arms out wide even though it hurt to move his right arm from his side. 

Peter collided into his chest with an "oomph", pushing the breath from Tony's lungs. His little arms were so tight around Tony's chest it was like he was trying to squeeze every inch of his father back into being. Peter was crying, outright sobbing into Tony's suit coat and Tony was only a little embarrassed to be doing the same into Peter's soft brown hair. He held his boy close, even as their shoulders shook, even as Rhodey knelt down beside them to block the two from the cameras snapping in their direction for the afternoon edition's headline. "Daddy has to go to the hospital, Pete." Rhodey, for his credit, didn't try to pull Peter away but, instead, spoke into his ear. "To be sure he's okay." 

Peter didn't say anything, just whined and squeezed tighter. 

Tony squeezed his eyes tight and took in a deep, grounding breath. 

This was home. 

It was with Peter on his hip and with Rhodey's help that he finally stood again and finished the walk down the ramp. A wheelchair was waiting for him, an expectant EMT behind it. Tony ignored them all and kept walking. 

"Tears for your long lost boss?" Tony asked Pepper - noting that she was beautiful, even with red cheeks and salt water dripping from her chin. 

"Tears of joy." She sniffed and put a hand on Peter's still quivering back, his face buried tight in Tony's neck. "I hate job hunting." 

Tony took it for the welcome home it was and, if he wasn't so overjoyed in having Peter back with him, he might have thrown all of the decorum and flirting to the trash and kissed her there. "To the hospital, Happy." Pepper said as Tony slid himself expertly into the car without dislodging his child. 

"No." Tony declined, determination in his words. "Call a press conference." 

"After the hospital." 

"Listen," Tony stressed. "There are three things I wanted when I was in that cave." Pepper seemed startled with the casual way Tony threw out where he had been. "An American cheeseburger, a press conference, and…." He couldn't finish around the lump in his throat but Pepper seemed to get it. 

She swallowed herself and nodded, her eyes watery on the shaking body on Tony's lap. "I'll get right on it." 

"Mi sei mancato così tanto, ragazzo mio." Tony muttered into Peter's hair, happy to pretend Pepper didn't see how Tony clung to his own son. 

Peter finally pulled away then, breaking every traffic law still by being in Tony's lap. His legs were draped on either side of his father's waist and he reached up to grab at Tony's cheeks with his little hands like he did when he was a baby. Peter pushed their foreheads together and their noses almost touched this close. "Mi sei mancato, papà." 

Tony pressed a hard kiss to Peter's forehead then, his thumb rubbing comforting circles in his cheek and wiping away the tears gathered on his eyelashes. "No more tears, okay, mimmo?" Tony knew he was breaking his own request, blinking down at his son. 

Peter had grown so much in just a few months. His hair was longer, he was a little bit taller and he had lost two teeth in the time Tony was gone. He was wearing a sweater Tony didn't recognize and he had a faded Star Wars tattoo on the back of his hand. 

"No more tears."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Italian: 
> 
> I missed you so much, my boy. 
> 
> I missed you, daddy. 
> 
> Mimmo: a common nickname used by Italian speakers to refer to their children. It's bothers me just a little when I read a Tony as a dad story where he calls Peter bambino since that is literally just the word for boy child or baby boy in Italian. I figured I'd stick with a pet name instead - like how my mom calls me angel, ruggrat or munchkin. 
> 
> Next chapter: the press conference, the first few nights home, and the making of a suit begins.


End file.
